JAKARTA, 18 July 2003 - A volcano erupted Friday in eastern Indonesia, spewing lava and clouds of dust high into the air, officials said. Villagers living close to Mount Soputan in central Sulawesi province had not been advised to leave their homes, said Jemmy Runtuwene, an observer at a monitoring post close to the 1,783-meter (5,849-foot) peak.
Dust and ash from the volcano had fallen on the provincial capital Manado, around 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the mountain, he said. A slow-moving lava flow was also visible at the rim of the peak, Runtuwene said. Soputan, around 2,160 kilometers (1,350 miles) northeast of Jakarta, last erupted in 2000. It is one of 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia.
Indonesia volcanoes are part of the "Ring of Fire'' _ a series of volcanoes and fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.

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